This year, though, there really has been no place like home for Hudson Valley, where it owns the best mark in the New York-Penn League.

"We have a really great atmosphere with the crowd, and we have really great chemistry with the team," outfielder Bralin Jackson said Thursday before the Renegades hosted the Williamsport (Pennsylvania) Crosscutters at Dutchess Stadium, where they were 20-3 heading into the game. "We work really well together, we know our strengths, and we feel comfortable here on this turf."

The Renegades said the new AstroTurf field might be a key reason the team entered Thursday with an .870 winning percentage at home. The team is 17-12 on the road.

One of only six teams in Minor League Baseball to boast a turf field, Hudson Valley — more specifically, the Renegades' batters — has used the playing surface to its advantage, leading to the remarkable home record.

Jackson said many hard-hit grounders, which might get swallowed up by an infielder for an out on grass, often whizz into the outfield for singles, aided by the turf.

"We feel comfortable hitting on this turf, versus playing on the regular infield," the Tampa Bay Rays' fifth-round pick in baseball's 2012 draft said. "We don't mind hitting that ground ball hard because we know something good can happen on turf; the ball plays faster. We've had a lot of infield singles, a lot of infield hits, so we're more comfortable and we swing the bat more freely."

His and his teammates' numbers back up that explanation.

Jackson came into Thursday hitting .390 at Dutchess Stadium, as opposed to his .226 clip on the road. He's one of several Renegades with significant differences in their offensive output at home and away from Fishkill.

Outfielder Hunter Lockwood, for example, entered Thursday with a .345 average and eight home runs at Dutchess Stadium while hitting .202 with two homers on the road. Casey Gillaspie was batting .311 with four home runs at home, 69 points and two homers more than away from Dutchess Stadium.

Infielder Jace Conrad enjoyed a home average (.414) that was almost twice as high as his mark on the road (.210), as did infielder Coty Blanchard (.377 at home, .198 on the road).

"It baffles me how some guys are hitting that much higher at home than on the road," manager Tim Parenton said, noting countless deep-green trees that rise above the batter's eye in center field. "I think we have a good batting background here. I think the AstroTurf plays a little bit into it — it's a little bit faster — and our guys believe they're going to hit here."

Part of the success, too, can be attributed to the comforts any team enjoys playing at home.

While not having to deal with bus trips, hotels and the like, home teams are also afforded the luxury of earlier batting practice — that yields more time to relax and recuperate in the clubhouse before first pitch — and are able to follow a more regular schedule, as well as better eating habits, than when playing on the road.

"On the road, it's a little different: You're in a hotel, you're laying around, you're not up and doing stuff a lot, and that's the adjustment to professional baseball," Parenton said. "When they're at home, they get here early, stay around here and hit. In hotels, you lay around a little too much, I think."

Added Jackson: "We have a better routine at home, versus the routine we have on the road. Some guys, maybe, don't have a good routine on the road, whether what they're eating or the rest they're getting. It's a lot different when you're traveling on the bus and sleeping in hotels, versus being here at home."

"You want to protect your home turf," said the skipper, a former assistant coach at Old Dominion University and the University of Florida, among other schools. "A lot of these kids are college guys, and they've got that mentality. They come out here every day and believe they're going to win every day, and that's what's been happening."

And at least one outfielder thinks the Renegades might be able to bring another red, white and blue league championship banner to the flagpole behind right-center field.

"We felt like we had something to prove," Jackson said. "In 2012, this team won a championship. We feel that maybe this team can really get that 2012 season back and get a championship for the Renegades. Getting closer to the playoffs, we feel it's going to happen."